Coronavirus strain (2019-nCoV)

Previously unknown to science it affects the respiratory system.  It was first identified in China and has also been detected in other countries with high incidence in Iran, Northern Italy and South Korea. It is also now in the UK.  Although the World Health Organisation has declared a public health emergency over the rising numbers of infection, the UK Chief Medical Officer currently describes the risk in the UK as moderate.  

How coronavirus is spread, because it’s a new illness, we do not know exactly how coronavirus spreads from person to person.  It is thought that as with similar viruses it is spread through cough droplets.  It’s very unlikely it can be spread through things like packages documents or food.  Viruses like coronavirus cannot live outside the body for very long.

Although we are not currently being affected we are taking a number of precautions to protect ourselves and our service levels as follows:

• We have ordered additional key spare parts as contingency stock to mitigate the risk of our trucks being out of service due to repairs awaiting key parts.
• We are in the process of contacting all of our key suppliers to ensure that they have adequate business continuity plans.
• We are not seeing any issues with driver availability at the moment and continue to monitor the situation. We will be advising staff on sensible “containment” procedures to minimise the risk of infection.
• We are limiting the physical interaction with International drivers arriving at our sites
• We are limiting the interaction between the reception staff who deal with international drivers and our main operations and administrations staff
• We will continue to monitor the situation daily, we meet at least weekly with the purpose of: protecting the welfare of our people; ensuring the business continues to operate effectively; and minimising the spread of the virus.

I would also like to ask for your support in minimising the spread of the virus by asking you, wherever possible, to facilitate the provision of access to soap and water at your sites and delivery points for our drivers.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact either myself or your usual contact within our business.